McCarthy: Keane didn't snub Quinn

13 April 2012

Mick McCarthy today denied that Roy Keane had snubbed Niall Quinn's testimonial.

The Republic of Ireland manager walked straight into a storm as the team flew into Dublin this morning.

The Keane-less side defeated Sunderland 3-0 at the Stadium of Light last night with goals from Mark Kennedy, David Connolly and Kevin Kilbane keeping the momentum moving for McCarthy ahead of friendlies against Nigeria and Friday's departure for the Far East.

The big talking point, however, was the non-appearance of Keane for the Republic of Ireland XI as 35,700 fans saluted Quinn and raised almost a million pounds for charity.

McCarthy said, though, that Keane had withdrawn over a week ago to have treatment on a minor injury but he decided to keep it under wraps to prevent speculation.

He will lead Ireland against the Nigerians at Lansdowne Road tomorrow night.

McCarthy claimed: "Any suggestion Roy is injured is very wide of the mark.

"He pulled out of this game a week ago, but I decided to keep my mouth shut on the subject because I did not feel it was appropriate to reveal such a story in the build-up to a testimonial game.

"It would have detracted from Niall's match and that would not have been fair.

"I knew that as soon as people got wind of Roy's absence they would put two and two together and get six. They would have been chasing Roy and writing scare stories to beat the band. It would have been a cruciate injury, a broken back, a broken neck or maybe even a cracked skull.

"I did not want that vicious circle to gain new life this week. There is no injury to worry about, no rift and no snub."

McCarthy revealed that the Manchester United captain has been suffering with a hip problem all season, but it is not serious and will not keep him away from the Nigerian game.

He made it clear: "Roy will report into the squad's Dublin airport hotel today and will play against Nigeria tomorrow. The fact that he is receiving treatment back at Manchester United does not concern me at all.

"If he wants to stay there and get more treatment, then that suits me - I'm not bothered. All I want is to have Roy available for the Cameroon game on 1 June. Nothing else matters as far as the Irish team is concerned.

"People can say what they want about the fact he missed last night's game. I don't care. All I want is to have him fit for the first match at the World Cup finals."

Meanwhile, Quinn has vowed to hit the £1m target he set when he announced the friendly two months ago.

The gate receipts from last night's crowd will edge him close to the magical mark - but Quinn says he will not rest until he can hand over a half a million pounds to Sunderland Royal Hospital and another £500,000 to Children's hospital in his native Crumlin.